This invention relates to the release of bowstrings in the practice of archery. Historically, the bow is held forward by the archer's one arm, while the bowstring is drawn back by the archer's other arm preparatory to release of an arrow engaged with the bowstring. In practice, the fletched rear end portion of the arrow is notched to have controlled driving engagement over and from the bowstring when they are released. Since there is a tremendous amount of pressure applied when the bowstring is drawn back for release, difficulty arises in the accuracy of shooting arrows because of undesirable physical movement incurred during the process of release. Accordingly, a number of prior art devices have been proposed and used to improve shooting accuracy, some of which employ a strap that is adjusted to the archer's wrist in order to align the axis of pull with the radius bone of the archer's forearm. It is the adjustment of this wrist strap with which the present invention is concerned.
Wrist straps for the purpose hereinabove described are comprised of a flexible flattened strap that wraps over the anterior of the archer's wrist, and with its opposite end portions overlapped under the archer's palm. The opposite strap ends are reinforced with suitable grommets or the like, through and from which a cord or sections thereof extend on an axis coincidental with said axis of alignment through the archer's forearm and over the wrist to which it is anchored. It is this cord that adjustably secures a bowstring release device to the archer's wrist, it being a general object of this invention to provide adustment means to reliably determine the length of this cord that extends between the strap and the bowstring release device.
The aforesaid adjustment of the anchor strap to the archer's forearm is critical to the accuracy of shooting arrows. Several factors must be coordinated. First the complete draw of the bowstring must be enabled, while second the position of the archer's index finger with respect to the trigger of the bowstring release device must be correct. The purpose of this positioning is to ensure that movement of the triggering finger alone will not disturb or adversely affect the aimed position of the arrow engaged with the bowstring at the point of pull by said device. That is, so that alignement of the arrow axis and the archer's forearm is not disturbed in any way. In order to attain this required adjustment, the anchor cord must be adjusted to an exact length, which heretofore has been quite impossible due to inaccuracy in tying a knot as a stop in said cord. Heretofore, such cords have been tied off in what was thought to be a wanted position, only to discover later that it was too close or most likely too far away from the wanted position. Knots have a tendency to slip, and they inherently tighten under strain, so that the cord lengthens during use and must be continually retied. In actual prior art practice, archers with this type of bowstring release have had persistent problems of the knot slipping, and usually with every shot of an arrow. Consequently, this position displacement takes place at a critical point in time, at the time of shooting and which is of prime concern. To these ends I have provided an improved cord adjuster in combination with a wrist anchor strap and bowstring release device, all as shown and hereinafter described.
The optimum alignment of the arrow and the archer's forearm with the axis of the bowstring release device is described herein, but this does not preclude other axes relationships.